The Truth
by MySelflessLove
Summary: Stefan and Elena. No matter what they will always have that special bond.


**A/N This is something I wrote a long time ago but only now decided to publish. This little one-shot took place somewhere in the middle of season 3.**

Elena was glad to see that Stefan will stay with her while Damon and others are going to try to find a way how to kill Klaus. Though she knew it is going to be awkward, she wanted it to be Stefan. The truth was that she missed him.

While he was carrying her bags, she looked around the huge living room. There was a time when they used to hang out here a lot. Ever since she and Stefan broke up, she never really came here that often, especially after he came back. She tried to avoid him, because it was too painful to see Stefan like that.

"I found a room for you upstairs." Stefan unexpectedly said. Elena held herself from flinching. His voice came like from nowhere, she wasn't used to hear it so sudden. After all, it's been 8 months since they aren't together. No matter how hard Elena tried to keep memories, they faded.

"Okay, thanks." This was awkward. Very, very awkward.

"Here, I'm going get your stuff up." Stefan took bags and without waiting for answer walked upstairs. Elena followed.

They were walking in silence and Elena noticed that they skipped door that leaded to Stefan's room. She sighed. She couldn't possibly wait for Stefan to offer his room. But then Elena got her interest back. She had been only in Stefan's and Damon's rooms. From what she knew, the rest were guestrooms.

Stefan opened door to room and let Elena walk first. She awkwardly smiled at him whispering thanks and passed him walking in her new room. _Wow_. This room was beautiful. Elena looked around. Everything looked new. She decided not to start arguing about it. She had told them that they can't decorate or do any other changes that any room would work for her, but of course they never listened to her.

"This room has beautiful sight and it's close to mine." Stefan was studying Elena's face. "You know, just in case, you need something."

"Of course, okay. This room is perfect." _Act normal, act normal_.

"Okay, then… Where should I put your stuff?"

"It's okay here." Elena felt so incredibly awkward. She wanted him to stay but obviously their conversations were not working. She was tired and she would love to stay in her house, but since Klaus had almost burned it down she had no choice but to stay here. Elena sat on her new bed and sighed. She wanted to go home, she already felt like in prison.

"What's wrong?" Stefan whispered, sitting next to her on the bed.

"Nothing, just I feel like in prison. You know, can't go anywhere." Those were Damon's words. He believed that the best way to keep her safe would be to lock Elena in boarding house. She was just tired and didn't even try to fight with him. That was one of the reasons she was glad Stefan was here. They might be awkward, but at least Stefan would let her make her own decisions.

"You don't have to. You can go outside if you want to, just maybe not alone in town."

"Yeah, what would Damon think about that?"

"Doesn't matter what he thinks. It's not his decision. It's yours." Stefan said with confidence.

"Thank you." Elena whispered. It felt good that after everything this never changed. He always trusted her and gave her chance to decide what she wants to do.

There was moment of silence. They were just sitting there, when Stefan said with excitement taking over his voice. "Have you ever seen garden?"

"A garden?" Elena had no idea about what garden he was talking about. She understood that he wasn't asking about gardens in general.

"Boarding house garden. Come, I'll show you." He was standing and for the first time in long time Elena saw such excitement in his eyes. She smiled and stood up as well. This sounded interesting and she was dying to get out. "I never knew that boarding house has garden..."

"Well it does. My mother cultivated it. Boarding house was something like summer cottage for my family and she loved flowers." They were walking down the stairs and down to hallway. Elena was literally absorbing every word Stefan said. This was brand-new information and she completely forgot about her problems and bad mood.

Stefan kept talking. "And even in our darkest moments, me and Damon, we had agreement on one thing. We hired gardener to make sure our mother's garden stays as beautiful as it was. Through all these years we had paid gardener to keep it alive. It's something we have done ever since she died."

Elena was trying to process all this. Stefan rarely was this honest about his past and right now they weren't even together.

"I'm surprised I have never showed you this before." Stefan said, still having excitement in his voice. That calmed Elena down. It meant that memories of past hadn't changed his mood. She was dying from curiosity.

Stefan leaded her to back of boarding house and they started to walk very close to each other since path was narrow and Stefan was kind of going first, holding branches so Elena could walk safely. She was looking around, because Elena had never known that there was path that leaded to some garden. It felt like wonderland, she had no idea where they were going or what she should expect to see.

Stefan took Elena's arm and they had to squat to get through last trees that were in way. Elena looked up and got speechless. The garden was magnificent. Rosebushes, lilies, hundreds of small flowers that were in every possible color were forming flowerbeds. This wasn't garden, this was like a park. "It's so beautiful…" Elena whispered. This seemed like other world. Sun was shining over them and incredible smell of flowers was making this seem like a paradise. After closely studying this place, Elena realized everything was perfectly chiseled. Every path, every flowerbed, every tree in this paradise had its own special place. This wasn't just garden, this was work of art.

Stefan was gazing at Elena, trying to figure out what she thought of this place. He was regretting that he hadn't showed her this when they were together. This place was something very special for him. He came here every time he needed to think or when he missed her. Stefan sighed. He could close his eyes and remember how he and Damon were running through paths, hiding in bushes. Their mother's kind and soft voice calling after them. She loved her garden so much, but she let them play in it any time they wanted. Stefan breathed in. Garden still smelled the old way. Their mother always gathered flowers and put them in every room so the whole house always smelled like flowers.

Stefan opened his eyes and saw Elena gazing at him. He smiled back sadly. "A lot of memories." She whispered.

"Yeah, a lot." They were looking at flowers when Stefan insisted. "Go gather bouquet or something if you want."

"Oh no, I don't want to ruin anything." Though idea of getting flowers from here was tempting. It would remind her that this beautiful place is real when they would get home.

"Come on, there are thousands of flowers. You can take anything you want!" He guided her to go and look around. He had to bite his lip to hide his smile when he saw Elena's face light up. She seemed happy.

"Your mom did all this alone?" Elena asked carefully, looking at Stefan to make sure he was still okay with talking about the past.

But he answered as this was casual conversation. Somehow he didn't felt pain about memories when he was in this place. "Well, of course, my father hired few gardeners but my mother usually did everything herself. And, oh, no one could dare to plant anything without her permission. She designed this place and never let anyone change it. And so did me and Damon."

Elena nodded plucking flowers slowly to make sure nothing gets damaged. She carefully chose which flower take. Elena felt something like awe for this place. She felt like this is unbelievable opportunity to even be in this paradise, so she carefully chose which color of flower take.

Stefan was following her, but letting Elena to pluck flowers by herself. He wanted for her to choose whatever she desired.

"What's your favorite flower?" She asked, not wanting to stop the conversation. It was light and she needed it.

"White rose." Stefan answered without hesitation. When Elena turned to him with inquiring glance he explained. "White rose resemblances purity, reverence but at the same time also secrecy. It's the most beautiful blossom, the only flower which doesn't need to be bright to be perfect." Stefan was handing one blossom of white rose. Elena looked at it. Stefan was right. It really was perfect in its simplicity. She looked up at Stefan and whispered. "Thank you." He didn't answer, only smiled.

Elena added the white rose to her bouquet. It was lying in her hands with rest of flowers, but somehow it stood out. It was highlighting the perfection of this place and beauty she was holding in her hands. They were heading back to boarding house, when Elena broke off the silence. "My favorite flower is lily. It's been like this ever since I remember myself."

Stefan was paying attention to her every word. "Why?" He asked.

"Actually it's because of Bonnie' grandmother. Not Sheila, the other one. She died five years ago." Stefan nodded and Elena continued. "I and Bonnie, we used to spend a lot of time at her grandma's house. She also had garden and her favorite flowers were lilies. She had them everywhere. I doubt she had any other flower. Only lilies. So she and her whole house always smelled like lilies. After we spend there a day, we smelled like lilies too." Elena chuckled because of memories. "So ever since that, I love lilies. Actually the white ones are the best. She called them royal lilies."

They were in kitchen and Elena was forming flowers in vase. Stefan was watching her. "You know, you form flowers like my mother used to do it. Most of the people simply put bouquet in vase, but you form them arranging them by colors and match." Elena smiled. Somehow she felt honored that Stefan was comparing her to his mother.

They were in her room again. Elena put vase next to her bed and breathed in. The smell was wonderful. "Thank you for letting me to see it. It was exactly what I needed." She walked by window, the sun was setting and sky was colored in beautiful colors. This room really had the best sight and also it was warm and cosy. "How was she? Your mother?"

"She was the most kind and trustworthy woman I have ever met. I don't remember a day she would be yelling or being broody." Stefan sat on bed. He continued telling even though Elena didn't ask. But when he started, she turned around and sat next to him. Elena didn't want to miss a word. "Her name was Elizabeth."

"Wait, Elizabeth?" Elena cut him off. "That's like so…"

"British?" Stefan helped, chuckling. "It's because she was from England. She met my father, who was Italian, when she was travelling with her family to Italy. My father was son of trader and kind of kept family's trade." Stefan smiled and continued. "They met and, as from what my mother told me, fell in love at first sight. When she went home, my dad as a trader kept going to England till one day she came with him to Italy. She was from kind of aristocratic family and of course they weren't happy about her decision to run away with poor Italian trader, so after she left they abandoned her. But my mother didn't care about that. She lived with my father in Italy and he had gotten his family business on quite a high level, when she got pregnant with Damon." Elena was listening and smiling. It felt like fairytale. She imagined young and happy family living in Italy despite everything and everyone. "Five years later I was born. After four years my father's business bankrupted, so my parents decided to go and to try luck in new world. America. Somehow they end up in Mystic Falls or in the place where the town was later built. " Stefan stopped here wanting to make sure Elena doesn't have questions. And she had. A lot.

"Oh my God, your parents along with my ancestry were founders of Mystic Falls." Elena tried to process all of this. So basically Stefan was four years old when they got here.

"That's right." Stefan smiled. It must be hard for Elena to understand all these things.

"I thought you were American." She started.

Stefan chuckled. "Not even close. I'm basically half Italian, half British."

Elena processed that for a few seconds. "So do you have British accent?"

Stefan laughed. "Not really." But he tried to imitate British accent to only amuse Elena.

Elena was close to crying. "Your accent is hilariously terrible." She said between laughing and trying to find a way how to breathe.

"Mi dispiace deludervi, signora!" Stefan said in perfect Italian. He even stood up and bowed down to her. Elena stood up as well and answered. "Le tue scuse accettate!"

"That was good." Stefan praised her.

"Was it? Because honestly I'm not very good with Italian." Elena just hoped that she said what she wanted.

"No, no, it was great." Stefan smiled. "And, by the way, my full name is Stefan Antonio Salvatore." He added his lips curving into smile.

"Your full name?" Elena asked in disbelief. "It turns out we were together for more than year but I never knew you have full name and you're half Italian, half British." She said in dramatic voice. "Is there something else you have been hiding? Ever been married?" She said raising her eyebrow. Stefan laughed and Elena couldn't keep up with serious face. They were laughing.

"As long as I can remember, no wives." He confessed.

Elena chuckled. This was so nice. Like old times.

They were sitting like that, mood around them all light up. Elena sighed. She knew that soon her friends will be here and this will end. She wanted to keep this moment, this silence but not loneliness, forever. This very moment with Stefan was one of the best she had ever had.

"What's wrong?" He asked silently. Elena smirked. He always knew when something was wrong.

"I'm just tired." She lied.

Stefan disappeared, but after few seconds he was back holding box in his hands. "Here, maybe this will help to kill time." He gave her box and she opened it. "Oh my God."

"These were my mother's jewelry." Stefan said and let Elena look at them.

Elena was stunned. She slowly took out jewelry one by one. Something told her that all these were real. There were earrings, rings and necklaces. Bracelets and brooches. Every piece was elegant and must cost a fortune. There was necklace only of white pearls and Elena tried to process the fact that she was holding jewelry that had indescribable value.

"You can take whatever you want." Stefan once again broke off the silence.

Elena looked up at him to make sure if he wasn't joking. "I can't." She whispered, putting everything back.

"Sure you can. Choose whatever you want and it'll be yours." He said like these were some casual bijouterie.

"Stefan, I can't. These jewelries were your mother's, besides they are so precious. I can't take any of this!" Elena was sure that all of these were made from real silver and gold. She was sure that pearls and diamonds were real. And Stefan was letting her choose whatever she wanted. It was insane.

"Of course, you can take it! Elena, all of this had been sitting in my room. Just like you said, they are too precious to be hidden." But Stefan was looking for something in the box. Elena knew it, because he clearly knew what he was looking for. "Here, take this." He insisted. He was holding silver necklace with little pendant of heart shape. The heart had diamond on it that looked like little white rose. It was perfect.

"I can't, Stefan..."

"Yes, you can." He repeated. "Besides you lost your last necklace. Let's ask Bonnie to spell this too, so it would protect you from compulsion."

Elena was looking at necklace in Stefan's hands. It was beautiful and she couldn't really say no after Stefan mentioning the old necklace. Even though Rebekah had ripped it away from her, she felt kind of guilty for letting it go.

When Stefan saw Elena giving up, he put it on her. "See, it's perfect." Elena blushed. She knew it was compliment to her. "Thank you." She whispered.

They were looking at each other, when loud argument was interrupting them. Damon and others were back. Stefan stood up and whispered. "We should probably get downstairs." Elena nodded and they were walking in silence. Though atmosphere changed, she felt that there were no walls around Stefan the way they were few hours ago.

Stefan walked in his room to put back box and Elena met Damon in halfway. He looked closely and smirked. "Nice necklace." He added bitterly.

Suddenly Elena felt like she could die. Damon was probably mad at her for wearing things that belonged to his mother. She hurried up to meet Caroline and Bonnie. "Hey, Elena!" They happily welcomed her. Caroline immediately spotted the necklace. "Wow that is beautiful necklace. Where did you get it?"

Elena toned down. "Stefan gave it to me." Caroline and Bonnie both gave her inquiring look but she showed them that it wasn't right place or time to talk about this. She got back to her usual voice so it wouldn't be so suspicious. "Stefan thought you may spell it so it would protect me from compulsion."

"Of course! Give it to me!" Bonnie said. She got vervain out of her bag and silently spoke few words. After about one minute, she opened her eyes. "Here, it's going to protect you from compulsion."

"Thank you."

Damon was speaking from behind them. "So we may have found a way how to kill Klaus. Come we are going to show you." He was already heading outside the boarding house.

Bonnie and Caroline were following him. "You go out, I'll get my jacket from upstairs and I'll be right back." Elena said, running up the stairs.

She opened bags trying to remember in which she had put her jacket. "Looking for this?" Stefan asked holding her jacket.

"How did you?" Elena asked. He knew how to find her things better than she did.

"It was on chair." He smiled. Elena sighed and took jacket. She put it on and touched her new necklace. "I think Damon doesn't like that I'm wearing stuff that belonged to your mother." She whispered.

Stefan smirked. "Damon is just jealous because he gave all his share of legacy to Katherine." Stefan continued as they were heading downstairs. "When our mother died, she left each of us share of legacy of her jewelry. She always used to remind us that we should give them only to someone we love." He laughed sadly. "I don't judge Damon. He loved Katherine, he gave her everything."

"And you?" Elena spit out before she could stop herself. She had no right to be jealous.

"I gave her nothing. I never loved her, it was all a compulsion." Stefan said as he would be talking about something disgusting. He hated Katherine and everything she had done to them. He was glad that he had never given her anything from his mother's stuff.

Elena processed that. _She always used to remind us that we should give them only to someone we love. _What is that supposed to mean?

**A/N About that Italian speaking part… I'm really hoping it was right because I'm no Italian nor I know how to speak Italian so please forgive me if there are mistakes**.


End file.
